Liverpool went into the season as the Premier League's defending champion but is already effectively out of the title race after a horrific run of results earlier in the campaign
20:12, 08 Jan 2026
(Image: 2025 The FA)
Roy Keane described Liverpool as a "poor champion" ahead of the Reds' Premier League clash with Arsenal.
The Reds cantered to the title last season – securing top spot with four games to spare – but they have endured a difficult season this time around, and went into Thursday's game 14 points behind the Gunners.
A run of six defeats in seven league games between September and November gave Liverpool a mountain to climb in order to defend the title, and despite picking up 16 points from the last eight games, Arne Slot's men have not been able to make up ground on Mikel Arteta's relentless Arsenal side.
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Former Manchester United captain Keane was typically brutal with his analysis of Liverpool's season, as he told Sky Sports: "They've been poor champions.
"To be that many points behind. When you play for the big clubs, when you win the title, it's always about what you do the following season.
"When they won it four or five years ago, the following year they were well of it as well. Obviously there'll be reasons for it, injuries, recruitment. To be so far off it, that's a big drop-off.
"They're the challenges you face. You face challenges when you're the champions. People are going after you. Injuries and setbacks or whatever, I still think they''ve not done the hard yards."
Virgil van Dijk warms up ahead of Liverpool's game at Arsenal(Image: 2026 Liverpool FC)
In an interview with Sky Sports ahead of the game, Liverpool head coach Slot effectively conceded that Liverpool's title challenge was over.
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“It’s never nice to say that the title race is gone, because you never know what can happen in football,” Slot told Sky Sports. “But the last thing we should talk about at this moment is the title race.
“We know that our league position makes it very hard to compete with Arsenal for the league title. Our first focus now is on a top-four, top-five finish to qualify for the Champions League. And all the other things we can still play for, for the Champions League, for the FA Cup.
“And if something happens that no one would expect and probably never has happened before, then we try to make sure we are ready for that. But I don’t go to Arsenal thinking about the title race. We go to Arsenal thinking about winning a game of football against a very strong team.”